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American multinational corporations are apparently dodging nearly $700 billion in U.S. taxes they owe on profits stockpiled offshore, according to a new "corporate tax chartbook" from Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Last year, Fortune 500 companies had $2.4 trillion in untaxed offshore profits, on which they owe up to $695 billion in U.S. taxes, the analysis found.

"Corporations have not paid any U.S. taxes on these profits because our tax system lets them defer paying taxes until that income is brought back to the U.S. parent corporation (i.e., repatriated)," the report states.

This deferral process costs the U.S. Treasury roughly $126 billion annually or $1.3 trillion over a decade.

Wage growth among African-American workers has taken a double hit since 1979 due to the growing black-white wage gap and overall wage stagnation, according to a new paper from the Economic Policy Institute.

The left-leaning think tank finds that median hourly wages for black workers "could be 87 percent higher in the absence of racial and class inequality."

Researchers examined the 1979 to 2015 time period, during which "overall median wages did not track productivity growth and racial wage gaps did not close, but instead widened."

"This kept wage growth for black workers much, much lower than it would have been otherwise," the report adds.

A lawsuit filed against the city of Chicago over its red light and speed camera programs was granted class-action status by a Cook County judge on Wednesday, meaning the case's outcome could affect up to 1.5 million motorists.

Sources

Now that Chicago Teachers Union members have ratified a new contract, CTU President Karen Lewis detailed what comes next for the union and Chicago Public Schools district.

"We will work with them to shore up their financial issues by promoting legislation that will adequately and equitably fund all of Illinois' schools," she said during a speech before the City Club of Chicago.

In discussing the vote results, Lewis said, "What I can tell you is that the level of distrust between the district, parents, educators and communities is still high, and will need a lot of work to repair these wounds."